NOVEL NEXT Chapter 115: Night Wenjing, Aminos!
Sizzle—sizzle—
Long Yuqiong, covered in injuries, squatted by the shore, flicked the lighter's flint, lit a cigar, and took a deep drag. The smoke, filled with griffon spices, filled his lungs, granting him a Sobering buff while temporarily easing the pressure on his heart.
"Alright."
Long Yuqiong rubbed his forehead and looked at Yutianxiao, who was supporting himself with a cane:
"Even though we've had some issues in the past, I think it's time to drop our guard. Can't you see our current situation?"
"What situation? Of course I know."
Yutianxiao leaned on his magic wand, not out of desire to garner sympathy, but entirely because of the necrosis spreading from his left ankle to his knee. The dark maggots voraciously devoured the decaying flesh, rapidly regenerating every second.
"You're crippled, I'm lame, Night is a burden, lost all equipment, no potions left, team scattered, no one online, if you ask me, we're doomed sooner or later."
"Alright, stop flaunting your rap skills, thirty-year-old uncle."
Long Yuqiong pressed the cigar onto his wound, using the high temperature to stop the bleeding directly. As for the subsequent infection, the microorganisms in Border Abyss were practically powerless against his Dragon Bloodline.
"Rap all you want, but why scold me?" Night Fighting Sword said aggrievedly, "I did nothing wrong and got scolded. How am I a burden?"
"Shut up!"
The two of Qiongyu shouted in unison, angrily reprimanding Night Fighting Sword.
"If it weren't for your itchy hands, insisting on touching that mechanism, we wouldn't have angered that Cauchy Rank (14) Shadow Beast Ahogia!" Long Yuqiong vehemently cursed Night Fighting Sword's ancestors.
"Heh!" Night Fighting Sword scratched his head awkwardly, "There was no way out, right? But we made it out, thanks to me leading the way."
"Actually, sure, you caused trouble, and then dragged us along running everywhere," Yutianxiao pointed to his own leg, "What did you mean by leading us to a Sigma Order (18) instance - 'Undying Lord's Resting Place'? We didn't even have Kappa (10), directly tortured to death by the terrain's Soul-devouring Plague debuff."
Night Fighting Sword placed his hands under his head, pretending to sightsee:
"It was just a little mishap finding the way, quite normal, since it's everyone's first time in Border Abyss."
"Well said, next time, you're not allowed to lead."
"Then do you want this immobile mage to lead, or this Dragonite warrior who becomes a target when flying to find the way?"
"I'd rather have Long Yuqiong, the one who ends up full of holes when flying..."
"How come this combination of a mage, a light-armored warrior, and a battle tank is so awful?"
As Yutianxiao said, their combination of three professional players couldn't be called harmonious, but it was at least counterproductive.
After a brief and extremely unpleasant experience, the three realized that some issues couldn't be resolved simply by skills.
According to their professional team coach, the three of them were like dumplings with grilled meat and ice cream filling.
Grilled meat, ice cream, dumplings.
Each individually a powerhouse, a pro, a master.
Together, only strange and terrifying.
"I just don't understand."
Long Yuqiong said sullenly:
"You were the one leading the way. Why is it that nothing happened to you, yet Yutianxiao and I got injured?"
"I don't know." Night Fighting Sword shuffled his feet, embarrassed, "Maybe, maybe it's because your mobility is too weak."
"Can't you blink over and give a shield?"
"You didn't even ask. I thought all pro brothers could easily dodge skills with quick turns?"
"Tell me how to dodge a lock-on skill? Even if I dodge the unavoidable, can I dodge the status?"
"Wow, the fish over there are so easy to catch."
"Enough, stop arguing."
Yutianxiao rubbed his forehead, exasperatedly saying:
"Arguing is wasting time. Sit down, both of you, sit still and think about what exactly happened."
"What else could it be?"
Night Fighting Sword shrugged:
"After True General's slash, an unprecedented explosion happened—then we woke up in Border Abyss, seemingly blasted right into a node. But due to the explosion's impact, our team got completely scattered, beyond team range, so we can't teleport to each other."
"And then there's this idiot."
Long Yuqiong glared at Night Fighting Sword:
"The spot we first descended to wasn't that bad. At least it was a building ruin — could have sheltered us from the elements, served as a temporary refuge—until Night Fighting Sword's itchy hand probed that mechanism."
"Oh come on, you PvP players don't get it, if you do nothing, you'd just end up trapped in one room forever."
"You're the real idiot! The energy in Border Abyss is overflowing compared to Layer Abyss. Even if we just stood still in a daze, our level would slowly go up, and then we could explore."
Long Yuqiong couldn't hold it in anymore and shouted:
"We even built our camp, with gear and supplies boxed up, and you unleashed that Shadow Beast 'Ahogia' from its seal—I've told you countless times, when you don't understand texts and materials, let me take screenshots to give to Teacher Xia to translate together, and then take action."
"Come on, Teacher Xia is probably still stuck in Empire's Inherent Time Domain, who's translating for her studio?"
"Is it possible Teacher Xia has an offline office…"
"Stop arguing!" Yutianxiao's head throbbed: "Night, I understand why your team falls apart at critical nodes every time, you're really not cut out for command."
"Our commander was poached by another team." Night Fighting Sword intentionally rolled his eyes at Long Yuqiong: "And then this team inexplicably did a team merger, causing my usual command partner to be directly sidelined."
"That's just for maximizing profit." Long Yuqiong remarked casually, "But it's clear that, Night, your thought process really isn't like ordinary people."
"This is called exceptional talent, you wouldn't understand, I'm the strongest all-around esports player in Fiery Summer, a consecutive five-year FMVP champion."
"Then couldn't even make it to the S1 semi-finals? Truly amusing indeed."
Yutianxiao mocked, sighed, and said:
"In any case, we're in pretty bad shape now."
He raised his magic wand, projecting a panel listing various resources:
"Look at this dismal panel: Mithril stock 0, Magic-Rune Steel stock 11 kg, Thunder Elemental Stone 120 g, no herbs whatsoever, weapon ammunition insufficient, and food, let's not even mention. We haven't even changed the respawn point, dying would send us back inside the 'Undying Lord's Resting Place' instance…"
Yutianxiao's tone grew increasingly bleak… Once upon a time, these pro brothers, who could reach the heavens and the earth, would fall to this state in the eyes of onlookers.
"But, thanks to Night's blind navigation, at least we now understand where we are."
Long Yuqiong spread out a map, revealing the region they were in:
"In Narrative Civilization's 7th tale—«Soul Hometown» within its Inherent Time Domain."
You could say they were lucky, Hometown was relatively welcoming to players.
However, the fact that Narrative Civilization's external attitude was positive, didn't mean the environment of its civilization was accommodating.
In fact, the land of Hometown could be described as disastrously poor, essentially a life-forbidden zone.